Steam-heating apparatus for railroad round-houses



(No Model 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

E. F. OSBORNE. STEAM HEATING APPARATUS FOR RAILROAD ROUND HOUSES.

No. 288,848. Patented Novq20, 1883.

38heets-Sheet 2. OSBORNE. I

STEAM HEATING APPARATUS FOR RAILROAD ROUND HOUSES.

(No Model.)

Patented Nov. 20-, 1883.

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IEYERQ Pmwlilhupapher Washinmm o, c.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.) I 1;. F. OSBORNE.

STEAM HEATING APPARATUS FOR RAILROAD ROUND HOUSES. No. 288,848.. Patented Nov. 20, 1883.

71 5371, $56 06' (57 Invent-or.

Nin STATES PATENT @rricn.

EUGENE F. OSBORNE, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 288,818, dated November 20, 1883.

Application filed March 3], 1888. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EUGENE F. OSBORNE, of St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steam-Heating Apparatus for Railroad Round-Houses and Similar Situations; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact de particularly for engine-houses and similar situations, wherein some of its advantages are very important.

Heretofore in steam apparatus for heating round-houses or other buildings in which it is difficult or impossible to obtain any considerable vertical distance between the main steam-pipe and the return-pipe, and in which there is a large amount of heating-surface divided up into small sections and spread out over a wide area-,there has been great difficulty in obtaining a proper simultaneous and satisfactory circulation of steam through all or a number, of the coils composing the heatingsurface, for the reason that the steam, usually takingthe shortest circuit, would pass through some one coil of the system and into the main return-pipe. Upon opening the valves of anothercoil, therefore, the steam would enter said coil both from the supply and return pipes into both ends of the coil. This would prevent the escape of the air, whichwould consequently accumulate in the middle of the coil and prevent any proper circulation of steam through the said' coil. Besides, owing to the slight vertical distance between the main return-pipe and the coil, the current of steam passing into the return end of the coil would often be sufficient to carry the water of a condensation with it into the coil, which would produce hammering in the pipes, and consequent injury to the apparatus. Another difficulty heretofore encountered is that as each coil usually connects directly with the main steam-supply pipe, and as the stea-nrpipe has a pitch or declines usually in the direction of the current of steam, if the coils on the extreme far end are shut off, the main steam-pipe will contain a quantity of water, andwill hammer, and if exposed to a sufii ciently low temperature will freeze.

It is an object of this invention to provide, in a heating apparatus having a small Vertical distance between its feed and return pipes, a construction such that any one coil or heating apparatus connected therewith, or any section, group, or number of coils or heaters, may be turned on or off without regard to any other coil or section or group of coils, such that the steam pipe will always be full of steam, whether one or all the coils are turned on or off, and such that the main return-pipes can be located in the immediate vicinity of, and either above, below, or at the side of, the main steam-supply pipe. Advantages of this last feature (of location) are, first, to prevent freezing of the return-pipe, (which is effected by reason of its proximity to the steam-pipe) and, second, to lessen the excavation required to give place to the apparatus. It is a further object to provide a construction of the apparatus, such that each and every coil will circulate perfectly with minimum steam-pressure, and will, with its connections, be exempt from liability to freezing temperature.

To these and other ends that will appear the invention consists in the matters hereinafter described and claimed.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of an engine round-house interior, showing ten pits arranged in groups of five each. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the supply and return mains, showing the traps in connection therewith. Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the heating apparatus for a single pit, showing its connections with the trap, and also the connections of the trap with the supply and return mains, together with fragments of the connecting return-pipes leading from the other heaters of the same group. Figs. 4, 5, and 6 are details of modifications.

A represents the circular wall of a roundhouse, B the tracks for the engines, and P P the pits. S is the main steam-supply pipe, which runs around the building near the outer wall thereof, and R is the main return-pipe for carrying the water of condensation back to the boiler. T is a trap connected with the pipes S and R by pipes S and R, respectively. The several coils or heating devices located in the pits P are, as here shown, composed of vertical supply and return headers H and H and pipes h h, and they are connected with the trap by means of supply-pipes S S, and S, and by the return-pipes R and R. The apparatus comprises a main circuit and local circuits. The main circuit includes the boiler, (not here shown,) the main steam-supply pipe S, suitably connected with the boiler, the returnpipe R, the traps T, and the pipesS and R, connecting the several traps with the pipes S and R. The pipe S is constructed with sev- .eral high and low points, marked, respectively,

from the latter, so as to drain the steam-sup ply pipe into the trap. Said trap is represented as an ordinary automatic continuousdischarge trap, and, when the return-pipe R is present, connects, as already stated, with said pipe by the pipe R. Said return-pipe may lead to any convenient point; but it will usually discharge into a tank arranged similarly to the tank marked F in Letters Patent N 0. 212,320, granted to me February 18, 1879,

whence the condense-water is returned to the boiler.

For the reason that round-houses are usually divided into sections of from four to eight stalls each, and for the purpose of simplifying'the apparatus and obtaining the most perfect circulation, the pit-heaters of a section or group of stalls are connected with the trap through single supply-pipes S and S and a returnpipe, R with which pipes S and R the individual heaters are respectively connected through the supply and return branches S and R as best seen in Fig. 3. There are therefore as many low points in the main S as there are traps, and there is a trap for each group or section of stalls or pits, though, of course, so far as concerns the construction of the main S and the connections of the traps therewith, each individual heater or coil can be separately connected with a trap and the number of traps increased to equal the number of such coils. When the heatingcoils are connected in groups with the traps, as shown in the drawings, said traps are located in suitable pits, each placed preferably opposite the middle of the group of stalls to which it belongs, and set at such a depth that the lowermost pipes, h, of the coils and the ends of the branch return R adjacent to the coils are above the high-water line of the trap T. The pipe S declines both ways suitably from its connection with the pipe S and the individual returns R also decline toward the pipe R Said pipe R is located below the low-water line in the trap T, so that each of the individual returns R is sealed with a water seal, which, however, will not normally rise to the coil. Each individualsupply and return is provided with a valve, V V and valves V and V are also provided in the pipes S and R for use when occasion requires. WVhen steam is cut off the coil, by closing the valves V and V", water would back up into the return branch R", and, if exposed to a freezing temperature, as is often the case, said pipe would freeze and burst. To prevent this the pipe E is introduced and provided with a valve, 6, which is opened when the coil is cut off. By this means a circulation is maintained through the pipes S S S, E, R", and R and-throughthe trap T, and freezing is avoided. This circulation is intended to be constantly maintained in cold weather when the adjacent coil is shut off. The pipes last enumerated form with the trap and heater what I call a local circuit. A valve or cock, V*, may be provided on the side of the valve Vtoward or beyond the re turns B by which, when required, the water within the heaters and their returns may be drawn off. It will be observed that the returns R? connect by short vertical pipesrwith the pipes R This construction and the position of the mains S and R, as shown, render it unnecessary to excavate deeply, except for the trap and the return R, which latter may run in any direction and be of any length or size. The return-pipe B may be provided at one or more points with an automatic float airvalve, or with a hand-valve, as ameans of libcrating air that may accumulate therein.

It is manifest that the steam-supply branch S, connected as described, serves a double purposenamely, as a drain to the steam-supply main S and as a steam-supply pipe for the local circuit. The trap T acts also in a double capacity-to wit, as a connecting-link in the main circuit when the local circuit is disused, and also as seal-tank and trap for the local circuit when the latter is in operation.

' The essential features of operation will be effected if the pipe S is made a prolongation of the horizontal part of pipe S, or is directly connected with the main supply-pipe S at any point, as indicated in Figs. 4 and 5. The construction shown in Fig. 3 is, however, preferable. Thefeature of a balancedpressure between the supply and return pipes S B with the tanktrap T, and that of a circulation by means of the pipe E, are subjects of the Patent No. 212, 320, above referred to. Manifestly a pressure-reducing valve may-be introduced in the branch supply-pipe S and a pressure carried on the local circuit less than that in the supply-main; but in the use of such a valve it is necessary to provide that it shall. in all cases give passage to the water of condensation formed in the pipe S. Of course the pressure iir'the local circuit cannot be less than sufiicient to dispose of the water of condensation through the trap. A special construction of a valve designed for this purpose may form the subject of a separate patent. It is evident that the deflections of the main steam-supply pipe, made for the purpose of obtaining the alternating high and low points, also serve to allow give and take in the expansion and contraction of said pipe resulting from changes of temperature. I \Vhile the high and low points in the main steam-supply pipes are desirable, a proper (bottom) connection of the pipes S with a perfectly-level supply-main will measurably serve to drain the latter, and I am not restricted to a main having such high and low points, except-in those claims in which this feature is specified. The lastmentioned modification is shown in Fig. 6.

I claim as my invention- 1. Broadly, the combination, in a steamheating apparatus, of a main steam-supply pipe, a series of local heating-circuits deriving their supply from said main, a series of traps connected at different points with said main in such manner as to drain the main at the several points of connection therewith, and connections for delivering the water of condensation from the heating-circuits to the traps, substantially as described.

2. In a system of steam-heating, the combination of a main supply-pipe, a series of traps connected with said main, so as to drain the same at their points of connection, a series of heaters or of groups of heaters, supplypipes giving communication from the supply-main to the heaters or groups, return-pipes giving communication from the heaters to the traps, and valves located between the traps and heaters for cutting off the heaters, substantially as described.

3. In a system of steanrheating, the combi nation of asteam-supply main, a series of traps connected with said main at different points thereof in such manner as to drain the main at the several points of their connection therewith, a series of groups of heating devices, pipes S severally in communication with the individual heating devices of a group and with the supply-main, and return-pipes R severally in communication with the several heating devices of a group and with a trap of the series, substantially as described.

4. In the system of steamheating, the combination, with the steam-supply main, with a trap, and with two or more heaters, of a pipe, 8, in communication with the supply-main and with each of the heaters, a return-pipe, B in communication with the trap and with each of the heaters, valves V and V, cutting off all the heaters, and valves V and V, cutting off each of theheaters, substantially as described.

5. In a steam-heating system, a supplymain having a series of alternating high and low points, and a series of traps connected with the low points of said main, heaters in connection with the main, and return-pipes connecting the heaters with the traps, substantially as described.

6. In a system of steam-heating, the combination of a steam-supply main having alternating high and low points, a return-main for the water of condensation, and a series of traps connected with the several low points of the supply-main, and also connected with the return-main, substantially as described.

7. In a system of steam-heating, the combination of a supply-main having alternating high and low points, a return-main, a trap EUGEN E F. OSBORNE.

Vitnesses:

W. H. Rrcnnnnson, Tnno. BITRKHARD. 

